Mumbai: The Bandra-Kurla Complex police on Saturday arrested a 48-year-old man who allegedly conned several college lecturers and Mumbai University (MU) professors, convincing them to lend him money for his mother’s treatment.
Imtiaz Mustaq Sayyed was arrested following a complaint by a head of an MU department. Sayyed would allegedly pretend to be a former student and seek₹15,000 to ₹20,000 from the lecturers, professors and principals.
The head of department, who had fallen for Sayyed’s story in June, approached the police after he saw Sayyed leaving another professor’s room at the university’s Kalina campus on Friday.
The complainant told the police that Sayyed, pretending to be a former student named Rohit Pitambar, had approached him in June outside his classroom. Sayyed told him that he had to quit his job at the Royal Scotland Bank a month ago, and that his mother was unwell. He said he needed money for her treatment until his savings were transferred to an Indian bank. The professor felt bad for him and gave him a small amount.
On Friday, when he saw Sayyed exiting another professor’s classroom, he grew suspicious and searched for Rohit Pitambar in the university records. On finding no record of such a student, he lodged a complaint with the BKC police station.
The police found out that the accused had also conned many college lecturers, including two professors from Somaiya College. They got a sketch made of ‘Rohit Pitambar’, and after a search realised that Pitambar was actually Sayyed. He was arrested from his Golibar residence in Santacruz (East). Sayyed was later presented in court and remanded in police custody for two days.
The investigating officer said Sayyed has confessed to cheating many teachers and principals, but since the amount was not high, most did not lodge complaints.
The police are now investigating whether Sayyed worked alone or if he was a member of a gang. “We are investigating further,” said Kalpana Gadekar, Senior Police Inspector, BKC police station.